Author: Ryan Lippert

RYAN LIPPERT WRITES – When the state controls the media, what viewers get out of each story depends heavily on whether they live in the country or not. There is no better example of this than North Korea. Earlier this month, North Korea celebrated the 70th anniversary of the ruling Korean Workers’ Party’s creation. Festivities included one of the largest military parades in the country’s history. Such parades are visually impressive displays of a country’s power that can help foster patriotic sentiment and inspire confidence in the country’s military capabilities. It’s likely that this parade accomplished both of these goals...

RYAN LIPPERT WRITES – How is it that a North Korean refugee, who just five years ago did not know what the Internet was, is now learning how to code? Thanks to a new partnership between Coding Dojo and Link (Liberty in North Korea), there is renewed hope that North Korean refugees will get the help they need to get by in the outside world, where familiarity with technology is taken for granted. Some also hope that they will use their newfound skills to help others escape. In today’s world, we assume that everyone knows what the Internet is,...

RYAN LIPPERT WRITES – In early September, as if the international community needed to be reminded about the alleged capabilities of the North Korean armed forces, the country said that it was prepared to carry out a nuclear attack against (big shocker) the United States and “other hostile forces” for pursuing an overly aggressive foreign policy. Statements of this nature are nothing new, and likely to be as empty as previous threats made by North Korea. North Korea has also made it known that they plan to launch a satellite in the near future. This will likely result in further...

RYAN LIPPERT WRITES – Every summer, North Korea makes it known that they vehemently oppose the annual military exercises held by South Korea and the United States. This time, however, tensions may run slightly higher than they usually do during this time of the year. Last Monday, the armed forces of South Korea, the United States, and several of their allies began their annual Ulchi Freedom Guardian exercises on the Korean peninsula. As usual, North Korea is making belligerent statements to voice its opposition to the exercises. This year, the North’s state-run media released a statement made by “A spokesman...

RYAN LIPPERT WRITES – Last month, a “biological weapons expert” known only as Lee allegedly defected from his native North Korea to Finland. Yonhap News states that he “held a data storage device with 15 gigabytes of information on human experiments” which may prove the existence of North Korea’s alleged human experimentation programs. However, nobody knows for sure whether Lee actually defected or not. When asked about the situation, some Finnish government agencies said they knew nothing about it, while another agency said that they can’t comment on specific cases. Whether this defection is real or not, it wasn’t...

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